Leeville bridge facing delays, financial troubles

Friday

Recent delays at the Leeville Bridge have some residents criticizing the new toll system state officials put in place to increase revenue for the financially troubled structure.

Recent delays at the Leeville Bridge have some residents criticizing the new toll system state officials put in place to increase revenue for the financially troubled structure. Traffic backups reached the point Thursday where police allowed motorists free passage to clear the congestion, said Henri Boulet, executive director of the La. 1 Coalition that lobbies for improvements to the highway that serves as the only route to Grand Isle and Port Fourchon. Boulet said the delays were because of road work to improve access to the new toll machine that went into use Wednesday.“When they were doing that work, it impacted traffic and caused some delays. We are hoping those enhancements have alleviated potential to future buildups,” Boulet said, adding state transportation officials are monitoring the traffic problems. Some motorists said the problem wasn’t road work but was the design of the new system that requires drivers passing through without a prepaid pass to stop at a single machine to pay their toll while heading south. There is no toll for northbound drivers.The new toll machine requires drivers to stop, select the number of axles on their vehicle and insert payment. The old method had motorists pay before reaching the bridge, either at kiosks at local businesses or online.The bridge itself is two lanes, but on the north side of La. 1 approaching the bridge, there is an added lane leading to the toll machine. Those who do not have a prepaid Geaux Pass are to use this side lane and allow those with a pass to enter the bridge without stopping.But when traffic is backed up far enough, all motorists have to line up in the road, causing a bottleneck, said Jai Bourg. He saw more than 100 vehicles waiting to pass the booth on Thursday afternoon, he said.“If it is backing up that far, then the ones with passes are going to have to wait until the line subsides so we can get to the Geaux Pass lane,” said Ryan Blanchard, who drives the route to work regularly. “This is the worst toll setup I have ever seen. I have not experienced traffic delays yet, but I have seen the lines.”Motorists said there were still backups on Friday, but the flow had improved from Thursday afternoon traffic.Bambi Hall, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development spokeswoman, said her department is working to improve traffic flow by installing better signs directing those who must stop to pay into the proper lane. “It is a process of people going through it once or twice to pay their toll and become familiar with the steps,” Boulet said. “People who do it the second time are much quicker. We are just having to fine tune the access lanes to the toll gantry.”It’s been a tough week for bridge supporters who also saw Fitch Ratings downgrade a $60 million bond that helped finance the bridge to junk bond status on Monday.The bond is completely reliant on toll revenue for repayment, but failures in the previous toll system caused the bridge to miss 20 to 30 percent of the revenue it should collect, according to a statement from the ratings agency. The agency noted the collection rate for the toll was well below industry standards at 70 percent.Hall said the downgrade will not affect the daily operation of the bridge. The new toll system coupled with a commitment to pursue instate and out-of-state violators is projected to cause the toll revenue to increase by 95 percent.Boulet said the old system was confusing as it required motorists to buy a pass before reaching the bridge or use an online system to pay afterward during a grace period that has been eliminated with the new system. “No one warned me that there was a toll system down there,” Jason Bourgeious of Houma said of the old toll system, “I hadn’t been to Grand Isle in over seven years, and I started seeing signs about a toll coming up and something about a tag. I kept an eye out for a toll booth but didn’t see one at all. About three weeks later, I received a fine in the mail for failing to pay the toll.”Boulet said there were also motorists who bought a pass, but because they likely entered their tag number incorrectly when purchasing the pass, they were still hit with the $25 fine for ignoring the toll. The difficulty paying off the bond under the old system was exacerbated by lower than projected traffic on the bridge, Fitch said. This is likely because of hurricanes, the BP oil spill and the worldwide economic downturn, the ratings agency said. Fitch also noted there is continuing uncertainty over the amount of traffic due to “enhanced” regulations on the oil and gas industry.The rating agency said there is a strong likelihood of default if the debt is not restructured and added increasing the toll rate from its $2.50 fee for two-axle vehicles could be a solution.Boulet said there are scheduled toll increases that will occur every five years over a 25-year period, and he thinks the new toll system will be enough for the bridge to satisfy the financial demands.

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